Customer Reviews

The Art of Organ Building: A Comprehensive Historical, Theoretical, and Practical Teatise on the Tonal Appointment and Mechanical Construction of Concert-Room, Church, and Chamber Organs, Vol. 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book would be appealing to the small fraction of the population that has in depth experience with the "King or Instruments". All others would probably soon find themselves lost. Although Audsley does a thourough job of explaining what goes on in an organ, a lot of what he says would carry more meaning if the reader knew the actual sound of what was being discussed.
Great pictures, in-depth discussion, and Audsley minces no words when he criticizes his contemporaries...be prepared for the full force of Victorian wrathful prose! Assuming you've any experience with an organ, this book will keep you turning pages for quite some time. Otherwise, be prepared to scratch your head...

The book is a complete treatise on the field of Organbuilding, albeit the information is a bit dated! The original copyright date was 1905!!! With that aside, there is still very useful information in regard to various mechanical actions, pipe building and mitering, well, everything relevant to organ building! There are some obvious mis-telling of the future, as for the very unlikely adoption of fan type blowers (now virtually universal) and the comdenation of unification!
Not a book for starters in organ building for sure, but with a basic grasp of apprentice level organbuilding skills, the book is informative. Be forwarned: George is willing to share an opinion or two! Highly recommended for somone wishing to learn about organ building practices in common use in the early part of the last century.

This as well as volume 2 is a critical part of anyone's library who wish to learn about construction of the pipe organ. Although the books are very old, they are a treasure of otherwise unpublished information on the historic details of organ building world-wide.

This book probably was a classic (in 1905). Many organs built since then clearly reflect those who read and believed. Many organs built in the US until 1940 seem like they could have been influenced. Very British - opinionated and pompous. No room for debate, etc. No offered credentials other than - because I say so. The real book (Vol 1) begins at about pg 350-400. The technical content and drawings are outstanding -- for 1905.

He had no foreknowledge of the classical revial of post-WWII. He figured -- if we have technology, why look back. It was a different age so many of his opinions sound silly -- like -- let's rename all the stops. Am I glad I read it? -Absolutely. Will I refer to it? - Undoubtedly. Will I read it again? - No -- once is enough. Age 56.

A nice fascimile of an old book. It has his own value as a historical piece. Though the interesting stuf is published in volume two, which apparantly is not jet reprinted by doover